Pages

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Rounds: Franklin Frog App {GIVEAWAY}

Today on MommyMaestra, I'm launching a new holiday series called Apps for Gifts that focuses on educational apps to give young children. As more and more families become tech savvy, parents are searching for educational apps to offer their children. So I'm delighted to dedicate this week to apps for iPad or iPhone that are perfect for gift giving. The apps have been tested by my children and come highly recommended.

Let's begin with a new app by Nosy Crow. Rounds:Franklin Frog is their first in a new series of multimedia, interactive life-science/non-fiction apps based on circular characters whose real life stories start where they end. It follows the life cycle of a frog through three generations.

What my kids like:My kids are miniature scientists and love anything related to nature and animals. They are little frog lovers, so they really like the subject matter.

Both of them love the graphics, which are simply darling. You can see for yourself in the images below.

They also like the interactive aspect of this app. To learn more, or make the frogs move/speak, they have to tap or swipe the screen.

What I like:I love that the app has text tracking, the words to the story appear on the screen and if your child is a beginning reader and chooses the option of a narrator, the words on the screen light up as each one is read aloud.

I also love the calm, soothing background music. It makes this app a perfect way to transition excited kids into calmer, more relaxed frame of mind. I think it would probably be a nice app to play together (grand/parent and child), allowing for further discussion about the elements of the frog's life cycle, habitat, and behaviors.

This app does a great job of describing not only the life cycle, but also the habits and adaptations, predators and prey, and even the seasons making it a valuable teaching tool for children in Pre-K through 3rd grade.

Other notes:

The narrator is a young child with a British? accent. This doesn't bother me, in fact, I really appreciate it because it helps to tune my children's ear to different types of accents. I like the diversity.

This app is not available in Spanish. But I bet if they get enough positive feedback on this subject, maybe that could change? I know that a LOT of you teachers and parents raising bilingual children would love it even more if it was available in Spanish. ;)

THE GIVEAWAY

Nosy Crow has offered to giveaway a free download of this app to one MommyMaestra reader.

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment below.

The deadline to enter is 11:59 EST, Monday, December 3rd. The winner will be chosen using Random.org. and contacted via email - so be sure to leave a valid email address in your comment! (If I have no way to contact you, I'll have to choose someone else!)And to increase your chances of winning, you can: